*spoilers ahead*
In what may arguably be the wildest episode of Season Two to date, the Lyons fall deeper into disarray while being targeted by the powers that be. Corrupt prosecutor Roxanne Ford proves to be a pain in the ass for not just Lucious but the entire clan as a whole, conducting raids on both the Empire and Lyon Dynasty offices in order to dig up as much dirt as possible for her case. Undaunted, Lucious decides not to dress for the occasion when Ford arrives at his mansion, happily giving her a glimpse of his Little Lucious. He assures his underlings that the investigation will do wonders for both his and Empire’s street cred- “If the feds raid your house, that makes you an O.G!” The power of positive thinking, folks.
Thirsty Rawlings gathers the feuding family together in order to get a grip on the situation, hoping that a display of unity will help their standings with the public as a whole. Tensions of course still linger between Lyon Dynasty and Empire, with Cookie holding reservations over working with her ex-husband after his latest attempt to sabotage Hakeem’s career. She offers to let the young rapper shoot a video for “Ain’t About The Money” with Jamal in exchange for Apex Radio airplay and for Lyon Dynasty’s masters to be left alone. Lucious agrees to half of the deal but holds firm on Apex, and the banter between them is hilarious with him cracking “grandma” jokes and Cookie biting back in return.
However, Hakeem is still pissed at both his father and Empire over the loss of his girl group, and during the shoot for the California Love-inspired video, he takes it out on a painting of Jamal by stabbing it in the neck, followed by Jamal himself during a brawl as the song concludes. Later sulking at a bar, he considers sending an apology text before being distracted by a young Latina singer’s rendition of “Blue Bayou”.
Meanwhile, Ford has Cookie arrested and grilled, showing her vileness as she directly threatens to go after her family. Unwilling to go back to prison and lose her sons again, Cookie thinks on her feet and gives Ford some sketchy details, falsely claiming that the late Bunky was going after Apex Radio. Ford then vows to tie up the deal in court, and I have to say that Taraji P. Henson’s performance during Cookie’s prison flashbacks are pretty damn effective in capturing her character’s despair and loneliness.
Dogged by what he believes to be voices from The Big Guy Upstairs, Andre’s guilt over Vernon’s death finally comes to a head this week, and him and Rhonda hope that exhuming his corpse will prove useful in resolving the situation- and possibly finally get him back into Lucious’s good graces. At first the two have trouble locating the body, but Lucious and Thirsty were thorough enough to put a tracker on Andre’s car and the four of them eventually locate the deceased assistant.
Putting aside the bad memories of his mother’s mental issues and his concern over the health of Andre and Rhonda’s child, the Lyon patriarch welcomes his son back into the fold after giving Vernon what he sees as an appropriate eulogy- “Rot in hell, you snitch!” In a shocking and funny ending, Ford casually gets into her car to set about taking down Apex, but unfortunately Vernon has apparently decided to ride with her to work today.
Odds and Ends
– Cookie’s rocking a sweet Thriller jacket this week. Her declaration that she would not die by suicide in police custody is pretty relevant socially, showing that Daniels and Strong aren’t afraid to be timely, and is also keeping in line with her personality.
– Michael seems to be a bit jealous over the chemistry between Jamal and the loopy artist painting for his magazine cover. Let’s see if this causes more headaches for the aspiring singer down the road.